Main Plaza mess making locals, not tourists, suffer

As I read a guest column by Henry Trevino, retired captain of the San Antonio Fire Department, and his ranting on Main Plaza, I found myself nodding most of the way.

I don’t agree with his point about tourists and the changes to Main Plaza, though.

“City leaders would be well served to ask tourists what really draws them to San Antonio prior to instituting such far-reaching changes to an already beautiful city,” Trevino writes.

Who cares about the tourists? All the tourists want are pictures of San Fernando Cathedral. As long as city leaders don’t hire Frank Gehry to restructure the cathedral’s façade then we’re fine.

Main Plaza is for the people of San Antonio. Was I for the change? Yes. Go to Google, search “Main Plaza and San Antonio,” click on “Images” and you’ll see Main Plaza has changed over the decades. I’m cool with us modernizing the plaza and I would have been cool with the pricetag had the job been done right.

What I’m not cool with is what has happened so far.

First, I’m ticked off at the process.

When Market Square-gate erupted last week, everybody piled on the city managers and City Councilwoman Mary Alice Cisneros for discussing a sale behind closed doors. The public should have had a voice. Luckily, the issue is dead. But the conversation to sell Market Square should have never happened.

But say a Market Square sale would have gone through the proper channels, was brought to the City Council and citizens were given the opportunity to voice their concerns. Would it have mattered?

Look at Main Plaza and the public’s input in the project.

Few agreed with the closing of Main Avenue and Main Plaza Street. Then, Mayor Phil Hardberger said the city compromised by only closing the two streets. The original plan, the mayor said, included closing Commerce and Dolorosa streets next to the plaza. If those two streets were ever seriously being considered for closure, then I’m one of the original Canary Islanders who settled here hundreds of years ago. I just upgraded from a thatched hut to a studio apartment at the Brady Building.

That “compromise” just didn’t ring true to me. Clearly, the public’s input did not matter much with Main Plaza.

Second, the execution of the Main Plaza renovation has sucked.

Fresh out of the box, the new Main Plaza wasn’t ADA compliant. Forget the restroom plumbing, as Treviño pointed out. They’ll never need to be fixed because they’re never used — they’re never open. Most of the time, the fountains aren’t flowing and when they’re not, there isn’t much to the plaza. The lack of anything — artwork, plants, people — has made me think of the plaza as a giant ashtray.

Some of the design baffles the mind. On the north end, behind the kiosk, there are steps that lead into bushes.

The kiosks should have never happened. No offense to Joey Villarreal or Justin Arecchi. They are local vendors and their snacks and refreshments are tasty and not very expensive. But a public venue like Main Plaza screams taco or raspa stands. Where is the ode to the chili queens who once stirred up chili con carne goodness back in the day?

Finally, there’s the removal of the red oaks from the plaza. To be fair, the decaying trees were unavoidable.

And there are positives.

The Main Plaza Conservancy has done an outstanding job booking live music and other cultural events. I’ve been to a few. And the Dias de Los Muertos altar over the holidays was so appropriate.

The Portal San Fernando — the gateway from the plaza to the River Walk — is lovely and has been completed for some time.

Benjamin Olivo

3 Responses

Do not short change the mentality of the tourist. San Antonio is a historical city and tourist come to educate their families , to see for themselves the city’s historical sites and experience our culture. The tourist industry is important to our city. City planners should strive to keep the authenticity of our founders.

I wouldn’t mind some taco stands though. Seems like there are very few places to grab just a taco downtown without it having to be served with rice and beans. I enjoy the days when I can grab a Chicago Dog from Jerry’s and walk over to Main Plaza and just enjoy the day. I don’t know what it was like before it was renovated because I moved to San Antonio while it was completely torn up. But, I can say that I do like Main Plaza and I like the idea of having live music like Flaco Jimenez who played recently and Grupo Fantasma who are playing there soon.